CALGARY – With two big three pointers in the final minute and a half, the Brandon University Bobcats pulled away at just the right time on Friday night, beating the Calgary Dinos 77-70 in the Jack Simpson Gym in Calgary.
Brandon's O'Brian Wallace and Kyle Vince each hit trifectas within 30 seconds of each other, sandwiching a pair of Andrew McGuiness free-throws to stretch their lead to seven with 50 seconds to play. The Dinos would get their chances in the waning seconds, with a McGuiness three combining with four missed Brandon free throws to make it interesting, but costly turnovers and mental errors ultimately doomed the Dinos.
Friday's loss marks the fourth straight week the Dinos have failed to win in the first half of a weekend series. Should trends continue however, Calgary could be in reasonable shape, as they've won all three of their Saturday games thus far.
Tyler Fidler continued his rebounding tear, eclipsing his yearly average of 12.5 with 15 boards in the losing effort to go along with 10 points. Fidler was joined in the double-digit scoring department by Dustin Reding (16), McGuiness (15) and Youri Anissovets (11).
First year post Matt Letkeman had a solid effort as well for Calgary, posting five points, seven rebounds and three steals.
Wallace was the high scorer for Brandon with 15 points, while Kyrie Coleman and Isaiah James followed with 13 and 12 respectively while combining for 13 rebounds.
While the game was competitive for the majority of the game, both teams had their fair share of sloppy play.
Brandon went 12 for 26 from the charity stripe, including the aforementioned four in the final 30 seconds, and turned the ball over 22 times. Calgary was 33% from the field and gave up a whopping 28 turnovers themselves.
Fortunately for the fans in attendance however, these turnovers and long rebounds led to numerous exciting fast break opportunities, as James converted two athletic dunks in transition for the Bobcats, while rookie Philip Labongo and Tyler Fidler rewarded the home crowd with a couple of their own.
Not nearly as pleased with the carelessness that made up the game, head coach Dan Vanhooren seemed exasperated with the effort of his troops.
“You just can't win when you give up 17 steals and 28 total turnovers”, said a frustrated Vanhooren. “It's hard to defend when you're faced with constant 2 on 1, 3 on 2 and 4 on 3 situations coming at you, and those happen because we can't take care of the ball.
“We looked out of sync and unprepared tonight, and ultimately that falls on us as coaches,” the coach continued. “We'll have them ready tomorrow.”
With the victory, both teams move to identical 3-4 records in Canada West action and will play again tomorrow night, with game time set for 8 p.m. at the Jack Simpson Gym.
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